European political and media circles were shocked and outraged on Tuesday 17 October at the murder of Maltese journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia. It was she who effectively triggered early elections after publishing allegations of corruption and offshore bank accounts held by people close to Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Writing in her blog a few hours before her death, she related the events of the morning, when, in court, the head of Muscat’s private office, Keith Schrembi, denied the allegations of corruption. “There are crooks everywhere you look now”, she wrote. “The situation is desperate.” She was killed on Monday when a bomb exploded under her car. Muscat immediately denounced a “barbaric attack”.
While Maltese opposition leader Simon Busuttil said that the rule of law had collapsed, the Commission refused to speculate on the possibility of opening the state of law procedure. Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas expressed confidence that justice would be done.
“If journalists are silenced, our freedom is lost”, tweeted Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans. Speaking on French radio, Taxation Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that he could not combat fraud “without journalists”. Green MEP Sven Giegold (Germany) said that this act was reminiscent of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The European Federation of Journalists has called for a full investigation. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)